Rachel Cusk has departed from fiction in her latest work, “Coventry,” a collection of essays. Though some of the pieces in “Coventry” have been published over the past two decades, Cusk has become more known for her novels, specifically her “Outline” trilogy. Cusk permits readers to access the inner-workings of her mind, regardless of what it is that she is pondering — and her writing is charmingly British. Every “colour,” every “realised,” every “civilization,” radiates English charm. Her analysis is enticing regardless of which side of the Atlantic you are reading her work.
Cusk writes of familial relationships in some of her best essays. She writes as a mother, though she offers eloquent comments that seem removed in their wisdom somehow both within and beyond motherhood. She has empathy for the experience while also making space for more intellectual analysis. One of Cusk’s especially timely chapters, “On Rudeness,” addressed Great Britain departing the European Union. Cusk’s chapter on Brexit grants readers an insider perspective. Whether the matters discussed are personal or political, Cusk provides unlimited access to her experience.
Reading “Coventry” feels like observing an extremely complex and intelligent machine at work. The writing describes potentially unfamiliar phenomena in revelatory terms, allowing the reader’s understanding to ascend to new heights. Cusk writes of her interactions with her daughters in the wake of her divorce in a way that, without having necessarily experienced the things Cusk writes about, it feels as though we have now been through them alongside her.
In addition to the way Cusk positions the reader adjacent to the experiences described in her essays, her specific word choice is also rather arresting. Cusk’s phrases protrude off of the page by virtue of their sheer eloquence, deeming their context hardly relevant. Cusk graces readers with phrases like “as authorised as she was illicit,” “some eternal fact that arose out of the conjunction of the two,” and “our whole sprawling future was encrypted.” Though these strings contain even more meaning within their respective sentences, it is difficult not to pause and appreciate them in sovereignty.
“Coventry” reigns salient among other recent essay collections. Cusk brings intense and meaningful words to the previously mundane and describes her own experiences in compelling detail and depth, all the while reminding readers of the thrill that good writing can bring to the everyday.
